MINDY ROSS/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Volleyball player
Sinjin Smith digs a ball at the Side Out AVP
Hermosa Beach Men’s Open earlier this month.
By Scott Schultz
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
There is a league of professional athletes that is hoping to
capture the attention of young America by showcasing its extreme
athleticism and the Southern California lifestyle.
The sport challenges its players from every angle. It’s
played on one of the most difficult surfaces imaginable. The
athletes dive, get back to their feet quickly, and often must
immediately dive again in order to maintain control of the
ball.
Both the male and female participants are part of the same
umbrella organization, often touring together. And if that is not
enough to grab a sports fan’s attention, the athletes play in
their bathing suits.
And no, Vince McMahon is not involved with the sport in any
capacity.
The sport is beach volleyball, and Leonard Armato, the new owner
of the recently revamped Association of Volleyball Professionals,
is ready for the sport to leave the exclusivity of the coastal
communities and become embraced by mainstream America.
“I love beach volleyball because it combines a lot of
elements that indoors doesn’t right now,” Armato said.
“For example, it has incredible lifestyle association,
geographic scenery and, of course, the sex appeal that exists with
the people playing in their bathing suits.”
One thing needs to be made clear: this is beach volleyball, not
indoor volleyball. Although they involve similar skills, they are
two completely different sports.
What is UCLA’s connection to the sport? The Bruins
dominate the world of beach volleyball. More than a dozen former
Bruins currently play the sport professionally.
And the Bruins aren’t playing a passive role, they are the
living legends of the sport. Karch Kiraly and Sinjin Smith,
teammates on UCLA’s first undefeated team in 1979, are first
and second respectively on the all-time tournament victory list.
Holly McPeak, who played on UCLA’s 1990 championship team, is
the only player to represent the United States in beach volleyball
at two separate Olympics.
In previous years, beach volleyball suffered from a
proliferation of leagues, each of which maintained its own set of
rules, and the stars of the game were spread thin among the rival
factions.
The top players now feel that since the leagues are all under
the control of one umbrella organization, the sport will have an
opportunity to thrive.
“The most important thing for the state of volleyball in
our country is the fact that we have somebody credible now, who has
the right vision for the sport and the capability of building it in
charge,” Smith said. “It hasn’t been that way for
ten years.”
Now that there is one league that fully represents beach
volleyball, the rules are easier to understand than they were
previously. Some of the rules in the new AVP break from the
traditional style of volleyball.
For example, the AVP uses “rally” scoring, which
means that every mistake results in a point scored for one of the
teams. This is a sticking point for traditionalist players who
prefer the old “side-out” style of scoring, where the
team has to be serving in order to score points. Another change is
the decrease in court size.
Some of the players, like Smith, are not yet sold on all the
rule changes, particularly the scoring changes. Yet they seem
willing to accept the rules if it helps promote their sport to a
wider audience.
“I know that people who know the game and play the game
and are used to the old system don’t like the changes,”
Smith said. “I’m not sure. If it proves to be better
for the game from the television standpoint and the fan standpoint,
then I’m for it.”
Each team consists of only two players, so each player is
involved in every play. The players have to be all-around athletes
to compete in the sport at the professional level. The players also
have to compete against the climate conditions, which include
spending hours in the hot sun and trying to move in the sand.
“You have to be able to do everything, and a lot of people
have difficulty moving in the sand,” McPeak said. “You
have to develop “˜sand legs,’ and that takes a
while.”
Armatto, who is best known as Shaquille O’Neal’s
agent, was one of the original founders of the AVP, and he played
in an early variation of the AVP before there was any prize
money.
“We played for dinners and kegs of beer,” Armato
said.
He is hoping that the college market will embrace the sport and
the new league. He sees the college demographic as the future pool
of both the next stars of the game as well as the next group of
hardcore fans.
“We definitely can’t forget the college
market,” Armato explained. “In fact, we have to address
it in a significant way, and certainly it is at the top of our
list.”
Some of the ways he hopes to appeal to the college market is by
combining AVP tour stops with extreme sports festivals. Other
possible ideas under consideration include working with one of the
younger skewing networks or holding beach-type festivals in arenas
to develop interest in the landlocked regions.
Legends of the game like Kiraly, believe that Armato’s NBA
connections will be the asset that helps put the AVP into the
mainstream.
“I know he’s got a lot of great contacts in the
sports industry with some of the clients he represents in the
sports industry like Shaquille O’Neal, and being close to the
NBA’s sponsors. So we’re optimistic that we can build
this into something great.”
O’Neal is probably the AVP fan with the highest profile,
having been known to refer to himself in interviews as the
“Black Sinjin Smith.”
“Yeah, that’s awesome,” Smith said.
“Actually, Shaq and I are undefeated on the beach. Shaq can
play the game.”
And how would Smith handle Shaq if he were on the opposite side
of the net?
“I’d keep the ball away from him and make him
set,” Smith said, laughing.
The players on the AVP tour are enthusiastic that they get to
play their favorite sport as a career. They talk as if they would
continue playing, even if it were still just for dinners and kegs
of beer, as it was in their humble beginnings.
“We play on some of the most beautiful beaches in the
world,” Kiraly said. “It’s a real challenge in
terms of being in better condition and playing a long time in the
hot sun on the sand.
“When you put it all together, it’s a great
lifestyle.”
Now, they hope that the rest of the country will embrace the
sport and the lifestyle as well.
Why the AVP digs the Bruins UCLA volleyball
alumni currently involved with professional beach volleyball
SOURCE: UCLA Media Guide, www.volleyball.org Original graphic by
TIMOTHY NGO/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Web adaptation by MIKE
OUYANG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff